Dey is a veteran member of intergalactic police force, the Nova Corps, who passes on his mantle to Earthman Richard Rider – the original Nova.

What’s interesting, is that this is the third time the Nova Corps have come up in conjunction with Guardians Of The Galaxy – firstly with the Nova stars in the original concept art, and then with casting of Glenn Close as the “Nova’s Nick Fury.”

With Marvel teasing the dates for two mystery Marvel movies – Summer 2016 and Summer 2017, at the beginning of Phase 3 – how likely is it that one of these will be a Nova solo film? Based around either Sam Rider, the original Nova, or the current one, the teenage Sam Alexander?

There’s certainly space in the Marvel Cinematic Universe for a teenage hero, especially as the Spider-Man and the X-Men licenses are elsewhere. Alexander, it’s worth noting, is a prominent character in the Ultimate Spider-Mananimated series on Disney XD.

Along with Doctor Strange and Black Panther, Nova has been one of the stalwarts for rumoured Phase 3 movie status, with Marvel’s head of TV Jeph Loeb saying in January 2013, about the character’s role in Ultimate Spider-Man, “Keep in mind this project started almost three years ago and at the time we were looking forward to who might be the next big characters, the next big franchises.

“Just like we just announced Guardians Of The Galaxy, we are certainly looking at the Heroes For Hire franchise which is Luke Cage and Iron Fist, and Nova is very important to us.”